Qibla direction in Kwekwe

How to face the Qibla in Kwekwe

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards north and move a further 14.1° towards east: the result is the bearing of 14.1°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at north would leave you about 14° off.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Kwekwe to Mecca points to 13.7°, only 0.5° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 14.1° bearing remains the exact one.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 18.9281° S, 29.8149° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Kwekwe to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,617 km from Kwekwe as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,941 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 56 min, although most pilgrims from Kwekwe connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Kwekwe run 1 hour behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Kwekwe rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kwekwe

On 295 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kwekwe while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 1 February 2027 it happens at 12:12 local time.

On 70 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in December (31 days), for instance on 1 January 2027 at 12:09.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Kwekwe: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Kwekwe compared with other cities

Compared with Harare, 179 km away, the Qibla in Kwekwe is turned 1.4° further clockwise (14.1° against 12.7°), and Mecca is 149 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Gweru (58 km), prays towards 14.0°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 7 cities in Zimbabwe on this site, the Qibla ranges from 10.2° in Mutare to 15.4° in Bulawayo, a spread of 5.3°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Zimbabwe.

Qibla in cities near Kwekwe

• Gweru14.0° · 58 km
• Kadoma14.2° · 67 km
• Chitungwiza12.6° · 167 km
• Harare12.7° · 179 km
• Bulawayo15.4° · 187 km
• Mutare10.2° · 300 km